Chapter 2 - THE WIFE WHO NEVER EXISTED
An ambulance carried me away from the Caldwell estate shortly after midnight.
The emergency technician cleaned the wound near my temple and wrapped my head in white gauze.
The plate had cut deeply enough to require twelve stitches.
The doctor said I was fortunate.
Two inches lower, and the broken porcelain might have damaged an artery in my neck.
Two inches higher, and the impact could have fractured my skull.
I felt no fortune.
Only clarity.
Adrian had not lost control.
He had made a choice.
He had picked up the plate.
He had aimed it.
And after seeing blood run down my neck, he had tried to attack me again to recover the flash drive.
Detective Lena Torres arrived at the hospital at 2:18 in the morning.
She carried a small evidence case containing the drive.
Maya entered behind her.
Her husband had refused to allow her to ride with me.
The officers had solved that problem by separating every witness at the estate.
Maya sat in the chair beside my bed.
A dark bruise was visible beneath the makeup along her jaw.
I had seen her many times at Caldwell dinners.
I had never noticed the bruise.
Or perhaps I had noticed and accepted the explanation she had been trained to give.
Detective Torres placed a digital recorder on the table.
“Before we discuss the drive, I need both of you to understand something.”
“If this contains evidence of a serious crime, I cannot promise that anyone involved will remain anonymous.”
Maya nodded.
“I understand.”
“Do you know what is on it?”
“Some of it.”
“Where did you get it?”
Maya looked toward the closed hospital door.
“From Richard’s private office.”
My pulse quickened.
“You stole it?”
“I copied it.”
“Why?”
Her eyes filled with shame.
“Because I knew that someday one of us would need proof.”
One of us.
Not me.
Not her.
Us.
Detective Torres leaned forward.
“Who was Adrian’s first wife?”
Maya’s fingers tightened around each other.
“Elise Morgan.”
I had never heard the name.
I had been married to Adrian for three years.
We had dated for almost two years before that.
He had told me I was the first woman he had ever wanted to marry.
“Elise married Adrian nine years ago,” Maya continued.
“The marriage lasted eleven months.”
“What happened to her?”
Maya stared at the floor.
“She died.”
The monitor beside my bed seemed suddenly louder.
“How?”
“Her car went over a cliff north of Calistoga.”
“The family said she had been drinking.”
“They said she left the estate after an argument and lost control.”
Detective Torres opened her notebook.
“When did she die?”
“June 14, 2018.”
I watched the detective write down the date.
“Was there an investigation?”
“A short one.”
“Richard knew the sheriff at the time.”
“The family produced witnesses who said Elise was drunk.”
“They said Adrian had gone to bed before she left.”
“They said no one followed her.”
“And you believe that was false?”
Maya finally looked at me.
“I know it was false.”
She pointed toward the evidence case.
“Elise recorded them.”
My stomach twisted.
“Recorded what?”
“What they did to her.”
Detective Torres asked whether the drive was encrypted.
Maya nodded.
“The password is connected to the date Elise died.”
The detective removed a secure laptop from her bag.
She inserted the drive.
A password request appeared.
Maya entered six numbers.
The screen changed.
Five folders appeared.
ELISE.
PROPERTY.
FOUNDATION.
WIVES.
JUNE FOURTEENTH.
Before anyone could touch the keyboard, the hospital lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then every light in the room went dark.
The laptop screen vanished.
May you like
The door opened.
A shadow stepped inside.
